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I would THINK any swap outs would be for MPEG-4 receivers at this point. Not to start the MPEG-4 transition, but what would the price difference really be to swap all of these old receivers (That they're going to swap anyway right now) to MPEG-4, as compared to sending out MPEG-2 receivers now, and then MPEG-4 receivers again down the road. Just the fact that these people still have these shows they're probably not going to upgrade to MPEG-4 on their own.

I would THINK any swap outs would be for MPEG-4 receivers at this point. Not to start the MPEG-4 transition, but what would the price difference really be to swap all of these old receivers (That they're going to swap anyway right now) to MPEG-4, as compared to sending out MPEG-2 receivers now, and then MPEG-4 receivers again down the road. Just the fact that these people still have these shows they're probably not going to upgrade to MPEG-4 on their own.

I'm pretty sure that with the exception of a few LIL markets that SD is still delivered exclusively in MPEG2 on the 101.

"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible."--Frank Zappa

I have two Sony receivers which will need to be replaced. Is there any chance that DirecTV might replace the two with a single HD receiver? I no longer need two receivers. Should I call the receiver replacement number, or would it be better to call customer retention. I've read on this forum that some people hae gotten deals from the card access department.

I am also considering going to U-verse. My neighbor's tree has grown to block the line of sight and I am getting little to no signal strength. It might be easier and cheaper to go with U-verse than to get the dish moved to the roof. I would prefer to stay with DirecTV.

I have been with DirecTV since 1996. I have the original Total Choice package and have the Sports package. I have called customer service exactly three times in 16 years. Once to start Game Plan and again to drop it when I started working weekends. The other time was to drop Starz/Encore which I never watched. I have never asked or received any discounts. I have been on auto pay since its inception.

I have two Sony receivers which will need to be replaced. Is there any chance that DirecTV might replace the two with a single HD receiver? I no longer need two receivers. Should I call the receiver replacement number, or would it be better to call customer retention. I've read on this forum that some people hae gotten deals from the card access department.

I am also considering going to U-verse. My neighbor's tree has grown to block the line of sight and I am getting little to no signal strength. It might be easier and cheaper to go with U-verse than to get the dish moved to the roof. I would prefer to stay with DirecTV.

I have been with DirecTV since 1996. I have the original Total Choice package and have the Sports package. I have called customer service exactly three times in 16 years. Once to start Game Plan and again to drop it when I started working weekends. The other time was to drop Starz/Encore which I never watched. I have never asked or received any discounts. I have been on auto pay since its inception.

Welcome to dbstalk, Lynn. I think you'll find it an interesting discussion and valuable resource on all things DirecTV.

I had wondered also about whether or not DirecTV might offer some sort of tradeoff or partial credit if we choose to upgrade the obsolete SD receivers to some sort of HD equipment.

I have three SD receivers due to be obsolete by the end of the year. Since I am moving toward a Whole Home DVR installation a few pieces at a time I would be interested in replacing these obsolete units with HD client boxes that would work with WHDVR. I'm waiting until they tell me the life of these boxes is over before I broach the issue with DirecTV.

"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible."--Frank Zappa

They are dropping the old style program guide. In 2004 they introduced the "advanced program guide". The old guide only kept 2 hours of programming in the receiver. If you wanted more, you had to wait a few seconds while "retrieving program guide" appeared onscreen. In total, you could get up to 38 hours of programming (six 6-hour blocks plus the two hours the receiver always had in it's memory)

The "advanced program guide" sends out about four hours of programming via a high-speed data stream and up to the next 14 days via a slow speed data stream. Different receivers store different amounts of this data in memory from simple SD boxes (3 days) to some older RCA units (5 days) to the DVR'S which store the data on a hard drive (the full 14 days).

The abbreviated data is always viewable since that is what the receiver is getting while you see "receiving satellite data" onscreen after a receiver restart. DVR's keep the full 14 days of data stored in a "cache" file on the hard drive so you get all of the data when you restart these receivers.

To clear this cache (if it seems to be corrupted or for your own curiosity), restart your DVR TWICE within 30 minutes and you will see the 4 hours of high speed data when the receiver restarts and must wait up to 48 hours for all the data to be received.

You will, trust me. Probably in a few weeks. They do this in waves so as not to have too many customers call at once, though with this situation there aren't that many customers that still have these receivers to begin with. Most of them are 1994-2001 receivers and as you correctly point out, technology has changed and advanced like everything else. Many customers that used to have those receivers have upgraded over the years to HD or a dvr that replaced these gen 1 \ 2 receivers.

I'm eagerly awaiting the email. I still have my ORIGINAL Hughes box on my account which I first activated in 2000. It is used strictly for listening to DMX (Sonic Tap) since it continuously displays the song data (no irritating "screen saver")

I always thought the DTIVOs had to be designed to function with DIRECTV's MPT or APG like all other receivers. Not have a separate guide stream from TIVO's servers like the one which services their STB and CATV DVRs over the phone or internet also sent over the satellite.